Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By RALPH ANSAMI
Ironwood — A warm Saturday produced a new weather record for Ironwood.
The high temperature of 45 degrees for the 24-hour period to 7 a.m. on Sunday broke a 110-year-old record, according to the National Weather Service office in Marquette, which compiles statistics gathered from weather stations across the Upper Peninsula.
The heat wave followed a brief Friday night rainfall that coated the Gogebic Range. The rain was followed by a burst of heavy snow and strong winds that made visibility poor and driving treacherous. The snow ended around midnight on Friday.
The thermometer shot up to 47 degree around 2 p.m. Saturday at Little Girl’s Point, north of Ironwood.
On Sunday, the last day of January, a few dandy brown trout were caught from shore at Saxon Harbor, as the ice from the marina had blown out. There were scattered ice shavings out on Lake Superior, but no big chunks.
Ironwood’s average temperature of 33 for Saturday also set a record.
The unseasonably mild weather continued into Sunday, as a high of 39 was recorded, with a Monday morning low of just 20. The normal highs and lows for Feb. 1 are 21 and 2, according to the NWS.
Last week’s snowfall brought the season’s total to 84 inches, compared to the long-term average of 123.1 inches.
January’s snowfall was slightly above the long-term average. It amounted to 47.2 inches, compared to the 110-year average of 44.2 inches.
The average temperature for January was 14 degrees, well above the norm of 11.6.
The Ironwood forecast calls for 5 to 8 inches of snow today, to be followed by 1 to 3 inches on Wednesday, with generally mild temperatures and not much snow for the remainder of the week.
